Welcome to the Global Water Resources, Inc 2016 Fourth Quarter and Year-End Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. I would now like to turn the conference over to Jeff Risenmay, Controller. Please go ahead.

Good morning everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's call. Today we issued our 2016 fourth quarter and year-end financial results by press release, a copy of which is available on our website at www.gwresources.com. Speaking today is Ron Fleming, President and Chief Executive Officer and Mike Liebman, Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Fleming will summarize the key events of the fourth quarter and year ended 2016 and the subsequent highlights for post quarter both. Next Mr. Liebman will review the financial results for the three months and the year ended December 31, 2016. Mr. Fleming and Mr. Liebman will be available for questions at the end of the call. Before we begin I'd like to remind you that certain information presented today may include forward looking statements, such statements reflect the company's current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions regarding future events. These forward looking statements involve a number of assumptions, risks, uncertainty, estimate and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward looking statements. Accordingly investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements which reflect Management's view as of to-date here off and are not guarantees of future performance. For additional information regarding factors that may affect future results please read the sections risk factor and management's discussion and analysis of financial conditions and results of operation which are included within the Form 10-K filed with the SEC earlier today. Such fillings are available at www.sec.gov. Certain non-GAAP measures maybe included within today's call. For a reconciliation of these measures to the comparable GAAP financial measure please see the tables included in today's earnings release which is available on the website. Unless otherwise stated all amounts discussed are in U.S. dollars. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Ron Fleming.

Thank you, Jeff. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us today and we're very pleased to report the results of our fourth quarter and year-end 2016 which was a milestone year for Global Water after the successful conclusion to our multi-year strategic plan to return Global Water to a place of strength and opportunity. Before Mike reviews the financial highlights for the last time I will once again review the importance of the strategic initiatives completed this year. As previously announced earlier this year we completed a series of transactions that resulted in the merger of GWR, Global Water Resources Corp, the entity publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange with and into Global Water Resources, Inc. and a concurrent IPO on NASDAQ. The transaction was part of our overall plan to simplify the corporate structure by eliminating one level of holding company ownership, refinance our outstanding tax exempt bond on more favorable terms, improve liquidity for shareholders and have a single governing jurisdiction in the U.S. for all of our assets, operation and employees of the business are located. Subsequent to the successful merger and IPO we announced the execution of a no purchase agreement to refinance our existing long term tax exempt bonds, improve free cash flow and provide additional liquidity to the company. This transaction closed on June 24, 2016. Further with a portion of the proceeds from the debt refinancing we negotiated an early payment option for a remaining payment due under the Sonoran utilities purchase agreement which was a competitor within the City of Maricopa service area that we acquired in 2006. The final payment was due to Sonoran in October of 2018, however making this early payment resulted in a $950,000 reduction to the payment cut. Moving on as you will recall…

Thank you, Ron. Hello everyone. Our discussion today refers to the consolidated financial information of the U.S. Company Global Water Resources, Inc. and all amounts discussed are in U.S. dollars. As a reminder total revenues consist of both utility revenue which is water, wastewater and recycled water services as well as other unregulated revenues. Total revenues for 2016 declined by 2.2 million or 6.7% going from 32 million in 2015 to 29.8 million in 2016. Specifically utility revenue was down by 1.6 million or 5.2% and unregulated revenue was down by 535,000. The decline in utility revenue was primarily a result of the disposition of both Valencia and Willow Valley. Adjusting for the Valencia and Willow Valley divestitures, adjusted revenues in 2016 were 29.5 million compared to 27.9 million in 2015, this represents an increase of 1.6 million or 5.7% year over year. Adjusted utility revenue was up 2.1 million or 7.8% in 2016 versus 2015. This increase is due to increased rates pursuant to the 2014 rate order, 3.1% organic connection growth and higher consumption in 2016. Operating expenses in 2016 were 24.5 million compared to 25.4 million in 2015, while this reflects a 930,000 improvement the breakdown is that one, operating and maintenance expense was down 1.2 million primarily as a result of the Valencia and Willow disposition. Two, depreciation expense was 1.9 million lower primarily due to the disposition of Valencia and Willow Valley as well and three, general and administrative expense was higher by 2.2 million primarily due to the increase in deferred and Board compensation as well as the incremental cost associated with the GWRC merger and becoming a U.S. public company. Turning to net income, Global Water had a net loss in 2016 of 2.9 million compared to net income of 21.4 million in…

Thank you, Mike. So in closing I want to clearly address the question of what we will focus on. Goldwater will take a disciplined approach to growth and value creation through the following means. We will work to grow recurring EBITDA by driving top line revenue growth while creating operational efficiencies and aggressively managing controllable expenses so that revenue growth drops to the bottom line. We intend to use cash on hand to make targeted capital improvements that increase revenue reduce expenses, build rate base and allow the recognition of deferred revenue while having the added benefit of deferring Valencia combination tax liability by approximately 38% for each offsetting investment. We will further look to defer the Valencia condemnation tax liability by replacing assets through accretive acquisitions with consolidation benefits. Finally we will routinely analyse our dividend policy with the commitment to grow recurring dividend as we execute the plan. This commitment was demonstrated by the multiple dividend increases in 2016. That concludes our prepared remarks. Thank you. Mike and I are now available to answer your question.

All right. Thank you, Operator. Just want to thank everyone for joining us today and your continued interest in Global Water. Thanks and we look forward to speaking with you again.